Word 97/2000: Basic Formatting

Before You Begin

You should already have the skills taught in Word 97/2000:
Introduction (dww23). Those skills include creating, opening, and saving
documents; editing, copying, cutting, and pasting; turning on and moving
toolbars; and switching views. This document also assumes you have the skills
taught in Windows 95/98:
Getting Started (dws07), including using a mouse to select options; to
size, move, and resize windows; and to pull up shortcut menus.

Please note: in this document, information unique to Word
2000 appears in a shaded box.

The Formatting Story

Once upon a time, only professional typesetters could produce
documents with interestingformatting, while everyone
else's documents had that typewritten
look. With Word, it's now easy to produce documents that look like
they are typeset. In this handout and the accompanying class, you'll learn to
use Word to format characters and paragraphs. You'll also learn a little about
formatting your entire document; you can learn more about document formatting
in the Word
97/2000: Papers & Reports (dww25) handout and class.

Selecting Text to Format

If you type some text and want to change its formatting, you need
to select the text first. You learned in the Introduction
handout and class to select a block of text with your mouse using the
I-beam. Other methods for selecting text are described in the following table:

To Select This:

Do This:

A Custom Selection

Click once to place the I-beam at the start of the text you want.
Move the I-beam to the end of the text, hold down the
<Shift> key, and click again.

Word

Double-click on the word.

Sentence

Press the <Ctrl> key and click in
the sentence.

Line

Place the pointer in the left margin beside the
line and click.

Paragraph

Place the pointer in the left margin beside the
paragraph and double-click, or triple-click on the paragraph.

Document

Place the pointer anywhere in the left margin,
press the <Ctrl> key, and click, or triple click in the
left margin. You can also choose Select All from the Edit
menu or hold down the <Ctrl> key and type
<A>.

Column

Hold down the <Alt> key, then
click and drag the highlight over the desired
text.

You can also set up your formatting before typing anything or
without selecting text. After you change your formatting options, everything
you type has the new formatting. You'll see how this works as we
proceed.

Formatting Characters

After you have selected the text, you can apply any combination of
character formatting to it. If you do not see the Formatting toolbar, you can
turn it on by selecting Toolbars from the View menu.

Using the Formatting Toolbar

The Formatting Toolbar has buttons for frequently used
formatting options.

The first field on the toolbar shows the font's style. In
the illustration shown, the text style is "Normal." Styles are discussed in
the ATN document
Word 97/2000: Tables and Styles (dww29) and the accompanying class.

The next field shows the text's font, that is, the typeface; in
the illustration, the font is Times New Roman. To change the font, click the
arrow next to the current font name, and select a different one from the drop
down list. The list shows the fonts you used most recently first, and then all
the fonts in alphabetical order. To change the size of the font, use the
fontsize field to the right of the font type field. Fonts are
measured in “points," with 72 points to an inch. Most documents use a 10 or 12
point font. You can type a new number in the Font Size field, or select a size
from the drop down list.

Click
the three formatting buttons to make text bold[B],
italic[I], or underline [U].

To
change the color of your text, click the font color button on the far
right of the toolbar. To select a different color, click the arrow next to the
button and choose from the drop down list.

You can use the highlighter button on the
right side of the formatting toolbar to call attention to blocks of text. The
highlighter is designed for proofreading or adding comments to a document.
Click the button, and select a block of text. The text becomes a bright color
on the screen. The highlighter is probably best for reading documents online.
If you do leave the text highlighted and print a black and white copy of your
document, the highlighted text has a gray box around it.

Tip: Keep an eye on the formatting toolbar as you work. It
shows how text will be formatted when you type. For example, when the Bold
button is on, everything you type is bold.

Using the Format Menu

For additional character formatting options, select Font...
from the Format menu, and then select the font tab.The
font tab has the same formatting options available on the formatting toolbar
but it also has others. As you make changes, the preview area in the bottom
half of the dialog box shows how your text will look. You can select a special
Underline style for your text on this tab. You can use different
Effects such as emboss, engrave, superscript (as with the 2 in
E=mc2), or subscript (as with the 2 in
H2O). If you define text as hidden, it
shows up on-line only if Show/Hide Paragraphs is turned on and prints only if
you specify that it should in the Print Options menu. (To print hidden text,
select Print from the File menu, click the Options button, and
select Hidden Text.) Additional animated features are also available on
the Animation tab (known as Text Effects in Word 2000). Animated
effects like shimmers and sparkles will stand out if you're looking at them
on-screen, but none of these features print.

Using the Keyboard

You can apply many character formats without using the mouse or
the menu. Just use keyboard shortcuts like <Ctrl> B for bold,
<Ctrl> I for italic, and <Ctrl> U for underline.

Using the Format Painter

You can use the Format Painter button to apply the formatting of
one block of text to another block of text formatted differently. To use the
Format Painter, first select the text that is formatted the way you
want the other text to look. Then choose the Format Painter button from
the Formatting toolbar. Your I-beam now has a paint brush attached to
it. “Brush" the I-beam over the text you want to “paint" with the formatting
of the first text block. The pointer arrow returns to normal once you paint
the text. You can also select text and then double-click the Format Painter.
In this case, the Format Painter stays on until you turn it off by clicking
the button again.

Formatting Paragraphs

Paragraph formatting includes setting tabs and indents, alignment,
numbering, bulleting, and borders. If you want to have several rows of text
lined up so that each line begins at the same place, you must use paragraph
formatting (tabs and indents) to control the spacing. To select a single
paragraph for formatting, simply place the insertion point in that paragraph.
To format multiple paragraphs, extend the selection into at least a portion of
all the paragraphs you want to format. As with other formatting, you have many
options for getting the job done. To set many paragraph formatting options at
once, select Paragraph from the Format menu. You can also change
formatting options using toolbars and the Ruler. Turn the ruler off and
on from the View menu.

Tabs

The gray notches on the bottom of the Ruler are the default tab
stops. If you press the Tab key on your keyboard, your insertion point
moves to these tab stops. You can change tab settings quickly using the
Ruler, or select Tabs from the Format menu for more
options. Your new tab settings will affect either the paragraph you select or
new paragraphs from the insertion point forward.

To set tabs using the ruler:

Use the button on the far left of the ruler to select the type of tab
you want. Click this button until the type of tab you want appears:

left

center

right

decimal

bar

Click the Ruler where you want the tab to appear. Your new tab stop
appears on the ruler, but the default tabs to the left of it are gone.

Adjust a tab by dragging it to another spot on the ruler.

To set tabs using the menu:

Select Tabs from the Format menu.

Type a number in the Tab Stop Position field. (The number you
type is the tab's distance from the left margin.) Select its
Alignment (left, center, right, decimal, or bar).

Select a Leader if you want one. The leader helps guide the
reader's eye across the page, as shown in this table of contents entry,
which uses a right tab with a dotted leader:

Chapter
3 . . . . . . . . . . Page
54

Click the Set button.

Click OK to exit the Tabs dialog box after you have set all your
tabs.

Word 2000: you can use Click and Type to set tab
stops. Switch to Print Layout or Web Layout view. Then
point to a blank line on a page, and double-click where you want
the tab stop to appear.

To turn Click and Type on or off, select the Tools menu, then
Options, and switch to the Edit tab. Select the checkbox
at the bottom of the window next to Enable Click and Type to turn
the feature on or off.

Deleting Tabs

From the ruler, simply drag the tab off of the ruler.

From the Tabs dialog box, select the tab from the Tab Stop
Position list, and then select Clear.

To delete all tabs, click Clear All Tabs in the Tabs dialog box.

Paragraph Indentation

You may need to set paragraph indents for a bibliography,
footnotes, or résumé. You may also want the first line of every paragraph
indented from the margin while the rest of the paragraph stays flush with the
margin.

Setting Indents Using the Format Menu

You can set paragraph formatting
options to control how far from the left and right margins a paragraph is
indented. From the Format menu, select Paragraph, and click the
Indents and Spacing tab. In the Indentation section, you can
change the right and left indents for your paragraphs. To indent the first
line of your paragraphs, select First Line from the Special
field. To “outdent" the first line of a paragraph for a bibliography or
footnote, select Hanging Indent from the Special field.

Setting Indents Using the Ruler

You can also control indents with the
arrows on the ruler. To
change the right indent, drag the triangle on the bottom right of the
ruler. The left indent has three parts. The top arrow controls the
first line of the paragraph, the bottom arrow controls other lines in the
paragraph, and the square under the bottom triangle controls both.

To change the first line indent, drag the top triangle.

To change the indent for everything except the first line of the
paragraph, drag the bottom triangle.

To move both indents at once, drag the square under the bottom
triangle.

Word 2000: you can select different indents with the button
on the far left of the ruler you used earlier to select different tab
types. To create a first line indent (for normal paragraphs in an
essay, for example), click the button until you see the first line
indent button. Then click the ruler to set the indent. .
To set a hanging indent (for bibliographies, for example), click the
button until you see the hanging indent button Then click the
ruler to set your hanging indent.

Please note: in this example, you're adding a list of dates
to a résumé, and Word is going to try to help by adding the dates for
you with its Autoformat option. You're better off without this help, so
before you proceed, turn off the Automatic Numbered Lists option.
To do this, select the Tools menu, Options, AutoCorrect,
and then the Autoformat As You Type tab. Make sure there is
not a check mark next to Automatic numbered lists, and
OK your change. (For more details about Autoformat, see the ATN
document, Word 97/2000:
Increasing Efficiency (dww26). Now back to our story.

Set a hanging indent where you want the block paragraph to be (in this
example, at 1.5 inches, where Pizza appears). You can set the indent
from the ruler by dragging the bottom triangle into position, by setting
options in the Paragraph window (available from the Format menu), or, in
Word 2000, by selecting the hanging indent button on the ruler and clicking
the ruler at 1.5."

When you set the indent, Word is ready to indent
all but the first line of your paragraph. Although you don't see it, the
first tab stop is also automatically moved to 1.5" from the margin.

Type the date or other information you want flush with the left margin.

Press Tab, and then type the succeeding lines. Please
note: if move to the next entry by pressing Enter and Word
changes the neat formatting to a colossal mess, turn off the Autoformatting
toolbar as explained above and try again.

Alignment

To align a paragraph with the left or right margin, center it
across the margins, or justify it (that is, align it with both margins),
clicke of the four alignment buttons on the Formatting Toolbar. You can
also use the Alignment drop down list at the top of the Indents and
Spacing tab.

Word 2000: you can use Click and Type to control
alignment. Switch to Print Layout or Web Layout view. Then
point to a blank line on a page, and double-click in the center,
left, or right. For more details, see Word 97/2000:
Introduction (dww23).

Paragraph and Line Spacing

From the Indents and Spacing tab, you can set the
Spacing Before and After paragraphs (measured in points). You can also
set the Line spacing, including single and double, or type in an exact
measurement. The keyboard shortcuts for line spacing are
<Ctrl><1> for single spacing and
<Ctrl><2> for double spacing.

Automatic Numbering of Paragraphs

To number paragraphs, use the Numbered List button on
the Formatting toolbar. You can number pre-existing paragraphs by first
selecting them and then clicking the button, or turn numbering on and then
type new numbered paragraphs. To remove numbering, select the text and turn
the Numbered List button off.

To change the type of numbers used (to Roman numerals, for example), select
Bullets and Numbering from the Format menu, and click the
Numbered tab. Click a numbering style to select it. To number
paragraphs in an outline or other list where you need multiple levels, choose
a style from the Outline Numbered tab. OK your change.

In an outline, if you want to move a paragraph from one level
to another, for example, from level I, II, III to level A, B, C, select the
paragraph, and then click the toolbar's Decrease Indent or Increase
Indent buttons.

Bulleting Paragraphs

Click the Toolbar's Bullets button to add bullets to a
selected series of paragraphs. Use the Decrease Indent and Increase
Indent buttons to create different levels within your bulleted list. To
remove bullets, highlight the text and click the Bullets button again
to turn it off.

To change your bullet style, select Bullets and
Numbering from the Format menu, choose the Bulleted tab, and
select from the options shown. You can modify the style further by clicking
the Customize button. In the Customize Bulleted List dialog box,
you can change the Bullet position, that is, its distance from the left
margin. You can also change the Text position, that is, the distance
from the text to the bullet. To choose a different bullet from a different
font, such as Symbol or Wingdings, click Bullet. Make a
selection, and then click OK (or Cancel). To change the
formatting, including the bullet's size, click Font. Make a selection,
and then click OK (or Cancel). OK your changes.

Word 2000: you can select a colorful bullet from Microsoft's
Clip Gallery. In the Bullets and Numbering window, select the Picture
button to see your options.

Borders

You can use the borders feature to put boxes around text, or shade
the background of text. Click the Outside Border button on the
Formatting toolbar to bring up border options. If you are unsure what an
option does, rest your pointer arrow on it, and a yellow flag with a
description appears.

Word 2000: you have some additional border options.
Use the diagonal borderline button to put diagonal lines in table cells.
To insert a horizontal line across the page, select the horizontal line
button.

To change the style of your borders, select Borders and
Shading from the Format menu, and click the Borders
tab. From here select a line style, color, and width
(measured in points), and apply special effects such as Box,
Shadow, or 3-D. You can also click buttons in the
Preview window to add side, top, or bottom lines. Choose
None to remove a border. Click Options to change the
distance from the border to the text. Click the Page Border tab
to apply and format borders for an entire page or a large section.
Switch to the Shading tab to gray out, color, or select a pattern
for the background. When using shading, be sure the text and background
contrast enough for easy reading.

Word 2000: you can select a colorful horizontal line from
Microsoft's Clip Gallery. On the Borders tab, select

Horizontal Line to see your options.

Tip: You can also control border style, color, and shading with the
buttons on the top row of the Tables and Borders toolbar. Turn on the
toolbar by selecting Toolbars from the View
menu.

Formatting Shortcuts

Right Mouse Button

As you work in Word, you can right-click on a blank page or
block of text, and a shortcut menu appears from which you can select options
to cut, copy, paste, change font or paragraph formatting, or apply bullets or
numbering.

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can also apply character and paragraph formats by using
keyboard shortcuts. Search in Word's Help for a list of "keyboard
shortcuts."

Styles

Styles are sets of formatting options you can use to make your
documents more consistent . With styles, you can save time by applying
multiple character and paragraph formatting options in one fell swoop. For
more information about styles, see the ATN Document Word 97/2000:
Tables and Styles (dww29).

Word 2000 Only: Themes

You can give your document added pizzazz (online) by formatting it
with a Word theme. A theme includes a combination of fonts, colors,
styles, backgrounds, and bullets. Themes do not print, but may be useful
for Web pages or online presentations . To apply a theme to your
document, select Themes from the Format menu.

Document Formatting

Setting Margins

To set document margins, choose Page Setup from the
File menu, and make any changes to the Margins tab. See Word 97/2000: Paper
and Reports (dww25) for more information on fields in this
tab.

Page Numbers

You can quickly add page numbers to your document by selecting
Page Numbers from the Insert menu. You can choose to put page
numbers at the Top of Page or at the Bottom of Page. You can
also position the page numbers on the Left, Center,
Right, Inside, or Outside. Inside puts the page
numbers on the inside margins of facing pages. Outside put the page
numbers on the outside margins of facing pages. You can also choose whether or
not you want to Show number on first page.

More to Come in Papers & Reports Class and Handout

You can learn more about document formatting—including working
with headers, footers, and different sections—in the Word 97/2000:
Papers & Reports (dww25) class and handout. The prerequisite for Papers &
Reports is Word 97/2000:
Increasing Efficiency (dww24).

Envelopes

You can easily add an envelope to your document file. From the
Tools menu, select Envelopes and Labels..., and fill in the
Delivery Address and Return Address. Click the Options
button for more addressing and printing options. After you make all your
selections, choose Add to Document. The envelope appears at the
beginning of your document and is saved along with it.

Tip: If
you're planning a large mailing, use Word's merge feature to produce
envelopes, labels, and form letters. Refer to the ATN document and class Word 97/2000:
Merging (dww27) for details. (The prerequisite for the Merging class
is Increasing
Efficiency (dww26).)

Selecting a Printer

If
your computer is set up to use more than one printer, you can switch between
those printers by selecting Print from the File menu. Select
your printer from the Printer Name field. The appearance of your
document on-screen, the available fonts, and other options can be affected by
which printer you select. For instance, a laser printer lets you use many
fonts, while a dot matrix printer may allow you access to only one or two
fonts. To be safe, use True Type fonts, which are available both on Laser and
dot matrix printers. (The symbol "TT" appears next to True Type font names
when you select them from the formatting toolbar or Font
window.

What's Next?

Next in the Word series is the Word 97/2000:
Increasing Efficiency (dww26) class. Once you have the skills taught in
that class and handout, you can take any other classes in the Word
series.

This document is a publication of Academic Technology and Networks at The
University of North Carolina. It may be copied for individual or non-profit use.
Please send comments about this publication to CB# 3450, 402 Hanes Hall, Chapel
Hill, NC, 27599-3450. Authors: Debbie Best, Anne Carter, and Greg Robinson.
Editor: Christopher Osmond. Revision date: March 20, 2001. Print date: March 20,
2001. ATN Document dww24